1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooking vessel having an internal heat conductive jacket and more particularly, to a cooking vessel that is adapted to receive a food product to be processed; the internal jacket of the cooking vessel being individually adjustable to deploy the food product in various attitudes internally of the cooking vessel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has long been known that particular food products, such as fish, chicken, hamburger, and a variety of vegetables can be immersed and cooked in vegetable oil to produce a tasty dish. It has also been known that various other food products, such as sausage and other pork products, for example, produce substantial amounts of fat based fluids and other liquid by-products during their processing, and are therefore more efficiently processed by frying them in their own juices.
Although it is highly desirable, in some instances to have a meat product cooked in its own juices; professionals in the culinary arts, and others, have looked for ways of easily separating a meat product, for instance, from the fluid by-products which are present in the cooking vessel. It has been the typical practice of both professional chefs and others, when separating the fluid by-products from a meat, for instance, simply to pick up the cooking vessel which has the meat located therein, and to thereafter restrain the meat, using a spatula, the cooking vessel cover, or the like, internally of the cooking vessel, while the fluid by-products and other assorted liquids are drained therefrom. Although this is somewhat effective in causing the separation of the liquid by-products from the meat, it is however cumbersome, and inefficient, and leads frequently to spilling the liquid by-products or meat on the associated kitchen surfaces, the floor or the like.
Attempts have been made in the prior art to provide a suitable vessel which can be suspended internally of an outer cooking vessel. These prior art devices typically utilize hot oil, or hot water, which is employed to cook the food product which is suspended therein.
It should be understood that the prior art cooking vessels have produced numerous laudable results. However, these devices do have numerous drawbacks. For example, the prior art devices have usually employed wire-formed baskets and the like to suspend the food product being processed internally of the outer container. Although this is somewhat effective, it is not a very practical method when employed to process fish, sausage, hamburger, and the like, which can easily break into small pieces, and thereafter slip through the wire mesh basket and into contact with the oil which surrounds it. Moreover, the prior art devices have not generally been capable of suspending the internal jacket in closely adjacent spaced relationship to the hot liquid by-products formed during cooking stage for the purpose of utilizing the heat emitted from these fluids to keep the food warm after the cooking has been completed.
Therefore, it has long been known that it would be desirable to have an improved cooking vessel conformably dimensioned to receive an internal heat conductive jacket; the internal jacket being deployed in various attitudes internally of the outer cooking vessel to effectuate the efficient separation of a liquid by-product from a food being processed.